


The Difference

by endeni



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Androids, Angst, Artificial Intelligence, Backstory, Blanket Permission, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Podfic Welcome, Rogue One Spoilers, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 21:25:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9346514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endeni/pseuds/endeni
Summary: By reprogramming Kay-Tuesso, and accidentally giving him conscience in the process (and how the hell did Cassian managethat?), Cassian has become responsible for him, one way or another. He’s grownattached.He wasn’t ready for Kaytoo to feel responsible or develop an attachment to him in turn.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [celeste9](https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/gifts).



> Written for [celeste9](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/) at [fandom_stocking](https://fandom-stocking.dreamwidth.org/).
> 
> Not betaed, so feel free to point out any issues. ;)

It had been an accident, Cassian with a crushed leg and forced to hide inside a run-down warehouse, Melshi and Pao waiting for him by the commercial docks on the other side of the city.

Waiting for him and the shipment of Imperial bacta he managed to steal, that is.

Because, if the Rebel Alliance has to resort to theft, they might as well steal from the enemy.

Too bad it’s sealed, Cassian thinks.

Not that the stuff would fix him fast enough to get him out of this mess anyway.

With some effort, Cassian props himself closer to the deactivated Imperial droid lying in a corner of the room. The one he caught with a lucky blaster bolt during the raid.

Cassian’s body is in pain but his mind is racing.

Left to himself, he tends to think too much, to dwell on things: what he’s done, what he’s going to do.

He hates it.

Deliberately, Cassian focuses on the droid instead, lets his hands do the thinking.

He tears away lines and lines of code and, when it comes to their replacements, he resorts to improvisation.

He buries himself in the project.

 

* * *

 

A loud boom, two, coming closer and closer.

The work isn’t done yet but, hell, what does Cassian has to lose?

He closes the panel he was working on and activates the droid.

“Hello,” the droid says, his eyes blinking into life.

“My name is Cassian,” Cassian says, using his improvised work bench to level himself up and hop on his undamaged leg.

“The Empire is coming to blow us away,” he quickly tells the droid. “Can you get us out?”

“I am K-2SO, KX-series Security Droid,” the droid recites. He moves his head forward, his metal body making an imposing figure, “and you’re a Rebel.”

 _Shit_ , Cassian thinks, his breath trapped in his throat. Instinctively, he takes a step back and slips, his bum leg unable to bear his weight.

He hits the ground. His head explodes with pain, his vision blurring to black.

 

* * *

 

Cassian wakes up to the humming noise of hyperspace travel and a soft pillow under his head.

“Hello, Cassian,” an Imperial Droid tells him from above, his hulking figure blocking the cabin’s light.

“Fuck!” Cassian sits up from his cot and then clutches his head as he’s hit by a stab of pain.

“We almost shot you,” Pao says, his smirking face poking from the door.

“Yes, we almost blew up the both of you when that fucking droid came to the ship,” comes Melshi’s voice from the cockpit.

Slowly, Cassian lets himself fall back on the bed, his eyes fixed on the droid, uncomprehending.

“He was carrying you in his arms like a pretty princess.”

“Fuck you, Melshi,” Cassian says half-heartedly.

And then, to the droid: “Thank you.”

The droid nods, almost solemn.

 

* * *

 

Cassian is almost crawling out of his skin by the time he’s deemed fit enough to get back on active duty.

Almost by default, the droid becomes his partner.

Reprogrammed Imperial droids have been known to go wrong and turn on their masters, their old code reasserting itself without any apparent reason. Cassian guesses since he’s been the one to do the reprogramming, he should be the one to bear the eventual fallout.

 

* * *

 

The next time they try to steal bacta, Cassian has a bulletproof, inhumanly strong enforcer.

They succeed.

 

* * *

 

Kay-Tuesso reveals himself to be an asset to the Rebel Alliance and, surprisingly enough, a friend to Cassian - if a mouthy and insubordinate one.

Sometimes, Cassian just wants to shake the droid’s black chassis until his metaphorical teeth rattle.

“It wasn't your place,” Cassian tells Kaytoo. “You had orders.”

“Orders that I elected to ignore, Cassian,” Kay replies calmly, he’s always so damn calm.

“We needed those weapons!”

“The Rebellion needs you alive more. I calculated there was ninety-two percent chance of you dying if I hadn’t intervened.”

“By letting go of our cargo! That wasn’t for you to decide!” Cassian shouts. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’re a _Rebel_ droid!”

“I am a droid _and_ I work with the Rebellion,” Kaytoo corrects. “There’s a difference.”

 _Fuck this_ , Cassian thinks, bringing his hands to his head, feeling the beginning of a headache.

 

* * *

 

Kaytoo is sitting on Cassian’s bunk, his long, metallic limbs curled up on the narrow cot. Half sprawled at the foot of the bed, one of Kay’s feet propped up on his lap, Cassian is tinkering with the scorched metal plating, courtesy of a stray blaster bolt during their last supply run.

“You do not like physical contact,” Kay remarks, craning his neck to look down at Cassian’s handiwork, tone matter of fact as always. “Yet you do not have a problem touching me.” He tilts his head in that bird-like way of his. “Is that because I’m not organic?”

Cassian thinks of straightening up and looking into the droid’s gleaming eyes. Then, he thinks better of it.

He doesn't say anything for what seems like a long time.

Cassian is a spy. To him people are a means to an end, pressure points to be taken advantage of. Cassian’s own body is an instrument too. Everything for the Cause.

But precisely because Kay isn’t human, isn't organic, there’s nothing for Cassian to analyze or coerce or... seduce: the not-so remote possibility of his programming going haywire aside, the droid would never, could never… force or overpower Cassian.

Ironically, there's something about Kay that makes Cassian feel… safe.

Back at the warehouse, that first time, Kay could have killed Cassian. Or just left him to die.

He saved him. He keeps doing it, putting Cassian’s well being even over the interests of the Rebellion.

Cassian isn’t used to that, to someone just putting him first. It’s a mind-blowing concept, really.

“Maybe,” Cassian finally says. “Maybe you’re right.”

 

* * *

 

“ _Kay!_ ” Cassian screams as the vault door closes in front of his eyes.

Kaytoo is -was- a droid. And droids don’t get killed like humans do. Or they shouldn't. Of all his friends, his makeshift family, Cassian has always thought Kay would have been the one to survive. Hell, that’s probably one more reason why Cassian grew so attached.

He was wrong.

Cassian isn’t ready to say goodbye.

In his head, a voice that sounds eerily like Kay tells him that the chances of Cassian himself surviving much longer aren’t high. It’s a strangely comforting thought.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] The Difference](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13207644) by [sisi_rambles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisi_rambles/pseuds/sisi_rambles)




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